MudWings
MudWings, known as 'Swamp Dragons '''by scavengers, are strong, thick-scaled, and muscular Pyrrhian dragons who live in the Mud Kingdom, the Diamond Spray Delta, marshes near the Sea Kingdom, and up to the border near the north of the Rainforest Kingdom. They are currently ruled by Queen Moorhen. The MudWings were allied with Burn and the SkyWings in the War of SandWing Succession and fought against Blister and Blaze. They were originally allied with Blister, but that alliance broke after the assassination of Commander Tempest (as depicted in ''Assassin). Burn forced them into an alliance with her, threatening to destroy the tribe if they did not help her win, and offered 100 years of peace between their tribes and protection to the MudWings if she became queen of the SandWings. Description MudWings have thick, brown, armor-like scales, on their underscales (which are usually the most obvious in bright sunlight). They are depicted dark green like the marsh, a purple-ish color, and even a red color in the first book's graphic novel interpretation, but this has yet to be shown as canon in any other media. Their nostrils are located on the top of the snout, on a large, flat head so that they can lay submerged in mud for long periods. They have thick, curved horns. Their eyes have been described as brown, gold, amber, or brown with yellow rings around the pupils, similar to central heterochromia. Their bodies are muscular and robust, closely resembling alligators, crocodiles, and other prehistoric reptiles. Abilities If they are warm enough, MudWings can breathe fire, though not quite as powerful as SandWings, NightWings and especially SkyWings. Thanks to their muscular bodies, MudWings are quite strong. Due to this they very well could be the largest tribe in Pyrrhia, but this is not confirmed. They are most comfortable in muddy or swampy areas and can blend into marshy areas quite well. It is also common for MudWings to be resting submerged in mud. Mud is often used to treat and ease the pain of wounds and heal this type of dragon to an extent. In addition to these, they can hold their breath for up to an hour. MudWings that hatch from blood-red eggs, laid every few years or so, are described to be resistant to heat and fire. Their fire-proof scales are only activated once they come in contact with mud. However, if a MudWing that hatches from a blood-red egg does not come in contact with mud, it will still heal faster than most other dragons and are mostly impervious to fire, as seen with Clay. It is currently unknown if there are causes for eggs to be blood-red, or if it's just random chance, although it is said that NightWings may have learned the patterns and statistics for when blood-eggs occur. Though fire will still hurt them, any injuries caused by fire will instantly heal over. In The Dragonet Prophecy, Clay demonstrates this when he fights Peril, a SkyWing with firescales, who can turn a dragon to ash just by touching them, without dying. This fire immunity works faster once the MudWing has been exposed to mud, as dragons draw strength from their natural habitats. Clay was once shown burning his claws in hot coals in The Hidden Kingdom, though he healed quickly. If a burn is too deep or large, however, it will not heal, as demonstrated in The Brightest Night when Peril plunges her claws into Clay to burn out dragonbite viper poison, but it heals only partially, leaving him with a scar from the bite and a permanent limp. It also heals only on the surface scales, not internal organs. Lava has also been mentioned to be another factor. In The Dark Secret, Starflight mentions that fireproof MudWings can only survive for a few minutes in lava, although this was never officially proved. There has never been a known animus dragon in the MudWing tribe, and there might never be unless a hybrid line with the animus gene is introduced. Society MudWings lay their eggs in bunkhouses that are well protected with warm rocks and covered in mud walls, in a way similar to the real-world crocodilians. This environment is so protected that the mother only has to check on them once in a while, and she is often not there during the hatching. The first dragonet to hatch out is often the largest and is known as the bigwings. The bigwings have an instinct to help their siblings break open their eggs, and eventually become the leader of the siblings. In The Dragonet Prophecy, ''the hatching process was misunderstood. Their guardians, Dune, Webs, and Kestrel, believed that Clay was trying to attack and kill his 'siblings' (the other dragonets) instead of helping them out of their eggs. This shows that Clay is the bigwings of the Dragonets of Destiny. After the mother covers the eggs, she will never check on them again, or even need to, as it is quite rare for MudWing parents to care about their dragonets, and the eggs are very safe even if they did. As a result, the bigwings of the group usually becomes the caretaker and parental figure. MudWings live and work in loyal units with their siblings. They grow up together, learning to hunt and survive and form very close bonds. These groups are often called "sibs" by MudWings, but the term is seldom known or used in any of the other tribes. During wars, the army of MudWings is made up of troops that are formed by these sibling groups, which allows them to fight very effectively as one unit. If enough siblings are lost in battle, the other members of the troop will look for other dragons to form a new group with and are called unsibs. Unsibs are MudWings who have lost most or all their blood siblings. Sometimes, unsibs will make a group and stay together like real siblings, who stick with each other through just about anything. Some MudWings will not accept unsibs in their troops, preferring only their true siblings. Pairings are not formal, with a breeding night once a month. Parents do not raise their children and do not know the names of their offspring. Males have no part in caring for their offspring, and neither do the mothers. Often nobody would even know who the father was. A family is comprised of only the siblings. Less wealthy and lowborn MudWings usually live on the outskirts of MudWing territory, near the Diamond Spray Delta (known as the place where the lowest-born MudWings dwell, according to Kestrel), while the rest live closer to the center of the kingdom. Since MudWings are so loyal to their siblings, no queen has ever been challenged by any of her sisters. This might also be because the bigwings is the strongest (queens are usually the bigwings of a group), and the others know that they couldn't defeat her in a challenge. MudWings live in large mud-and-plant-made sleep houses that house several dragons (usually siblings). MudWings tend to lay around and nap in large mud puddles and seem to not care how other tribes think of them, as their habitat expresses more of comfort than the need for decoration. MudWings, unlike NightWings, are not particularly known for their intelligence, shown when Queen Scarlet stated that it was unusual to see a MudWing using his head. However, this is just a stereotype, since MudWings like Mayfly are successful in intellectual careers. Names MudWing names generally relate to the earth, swamps and the things that reside there such as Reed, Crane, Pheasant, Sora, and Cattail, or shades of brown, such as Umber, Sepia, and Ochre. Sometimes they can also be named after types of diamonds or minerals, such as Asha. Possibly because they form in areas with mud or because of the Diamond Spray Delta, or synonyms of swamps or swampy areas such as Marsh, Swamp, and Bog. Known MudWings * Asha * Bog (Chameleon's MudWing form) * Cattail * Clay * Crane * Crocodile * General Swamp * Marsh * Mayfly * Newt * Ochre * Pheasant * Queen Crane (Darkstalker) * Queen Moorhen * Reed * Sepia * Sora * Umber Trivia * In the first two books, Clay, a MudWing Dragonet of Destiny, hatched from a blood-red egg, and only felt the heat when he touched fire, but throughout the rest of the series, it gave him burns that healed over within only a short amount of time. After experiencing the feel of mud, his scales got more fire-resistant. * In accordance with Joy Ang's illustrations in ''A NightWing Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia, MudWings, IceWings, and SkyWings hold their wings differently than the other tribes of Pyrrhia. Their wings are folded to their sides instead of being held upright. This wing posture causes the seam of the wing membrane along the body to be hidden in Joy Ang's illustrations. It's very likely that IceWings, MudWings, and Skywings are more powerful fliers than the other tribes due to the musculature and size of their wings in the illustrations, which is also different than the other Pyrrhian tribes. * At the beginning of the War of SandWing Succession, the MudWings were allied with Blister. The SeaWings accused the MudWings of killing Commander Tempest, and the MudWings denied it. Presumably, Blister chose the SeaWings over the MudWings and lost their alliance. Burn later threatened them into siding with her during the war. * When Chameleon is trying to persuade Peril to let him change her during Ruby's and Scarlet's battle, he says, "Scarlet wanted her out of the way but not dead. She couldn't get rid of all ''her heirs. A kingdom without any heirs is in perpetual danger… I think all the queens learned from what happened to the MudWings a couple of centuries ago."''Escaping Peril, page 231 Hinting that the MudWings may have caused chaos in Pyrrhia when the tribe had no female heirs when a queen may have died. This could also imply that Queen Moorhen isn't related to the original line of MudWing queens (i.e. Queen Crane). *In the lineart by Joy Ang, MudWings are the only Pyrrhian tribe pictured with their mouth closed. *The scales on the MudWing heads resemble the large bone on the Pachyrhinosaurus. *It is implied that the MudWings used to be a hostile, aggressive tribe in Darkstalker (Legends), as Queen Lagoon states that she didn’t like how "the MudWings and RainWings have been behaving lately"Darkstalker (Legends), page 46. *According to the guide, MudWings are usually very strong. This is shown several times as Crocodile knocked out several dragons at once with her tail and Clay is mentioned to be powerful more than once. *In book one, The Dragonet Prophecy, it was hinted that being hatched from a blood-red egg is not uncommon, but the only known MudWing to have hatched from a blood egg is Clay. *There are eighteen known MudWings so far in the series. *MudWings resemble alligators and crocodiles due to their scales and ability to hold their breath for up to one hour. *They also share some similarities with turtles, for once they lay their eggs, they leave the nest and go on about their usual lives. *They don't seem to care about the MudWing they mate with, as they only mate to have offspring, unlike the other tribes for the most part. *Tui has once stated that she imagines that MudWings sleep in a pile together in their sleep house. *MudWings and RainWings are the only known tribes that are known to not care for their offspring (however, the whole RainWing tribe care for the dragonets together, while the MudWings leave their hatchlings and their siblings to fend for themselves). *MudWings are the only dragon tribe that has nostrils on top of their snout. This slightly mimics the crocodile, which has a similar facial structure and nostrils. *MudWings have the second least number of POVs (two), the RainWings being the least with only one, in the series (including Legends, Winglets, epilogues, and prologues). Gallery Click here to see the gallery. References de:Erdflügler fr:Ailes de Boue pl:Błotoskrzydłe ru:Земляные драконы Category:Tribes of Pyrrhia Category:Tribes of Dragons